This invention pertains to apparatus which assists in the display and demonstration of audio electrical equipment, such as amplifiers, tuners, tape decks, speakers, etc. More specifically, it pertains to apparatus which facilitates quick and easy selection and interconnection of different arrangements of such units.
Those familiar with the display of audio equipment of the type generally mentioned above, are aware that probably the most commonly used system for interconnecting different units during a demonstration includes a hard-wired, mechanical switching system in which a large variety and number of push buttons or toggle switches are manipulated to set up each different demonstration. Often this kind of arrangement becomes very confusing even to sales people supposedly familiar with it. Extreme complications frequently arise when a particular piece of equipment is moved from one location to another, removed entirely from a display area, or when a new piece of equipment is added.
A general object of the present invention is to provide unique apparatus for selectively interconnecting different pieces of audio equipment, which apparatus takes care of the problems, confusions, and complications encountered with prior art systems.
More particularly, an object of the invention is to provide such apparatus which enables the quick and easy interconnection between different selected audio components, while at the same time substantially completely eliminating confusion as to how to make different selected connections.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, audio units which are to be demonstrated are connected to different address-assigned ports that form part of the system. In other words, each port in the apparatus is known to have a certain predictable address. A keyboard in the system is operated to "call up" the address of those particular ports for the units which are desired to be connected. More specifically, whenever the address of a particular port is called up through operation of the keyboard, the system of the invention prepares to make a connection between whatever audio unit is connected to that port, and one or more pieces of similarly selected audio equipment. Included in the system is an electronic memory which stores the addresses of the addressed ports, and which then (following storage) effects a connection between such ports.
For the purpose of illustration herein, and in order to simplify the drawings and the description of the invention, the apparatus of the invention is described in conjunction with enabling connections between just two different units. In particular, a system is described which allows selective interconnections between different amplifiers and different AM/FM tuners. However, and as will be further expressed hereinbelow, the invention is readily adaptable for use in setting up connections between many more than simply two audio units. For example, the system may be used to set up simultaneous interconnections between an amplifier, a set of speakers, a tuner, a tape deck, a signal processor (such as an audio equalizer), etc.
Various other objects and advantages which are attained by the invention will become more fully apparent as the description which now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.